Major Conflict
by Puppyscruffy1
Summary: What happens when you meet a nice girl? Well you find out that she's actually insane of course! Edward and Alphonse Elric learn this the hard way when they're paired up with pushy, bossy, yet somehow cheerful Ashley. Self-insertion & hinted at Royai.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Notes: This isn't an extremely well thought out or planned fanfiction, I just typed it down one day. I liked where it was going though, so I continued it. Yes, I put myself in it, and strikeI plan on fangirling all through the darned thing/strike I promise not to go too overboard with it 3 But, if you don't like self-insertion, or you can't appreciate ocX-insert character- type things, don't bother. It's not like I'm going to have Edward fall in love with me, or anything silly like that. I respond to reviews, so tell me what you did or didn't like, and what you'd want to see more of! This is purely for fun, so I hope you can have fun too!

The song is NOT by me. It belongs to Vienna Teng, and it's title is Lullaby For A Stormy Night. Look it up while your reading, it's really a very sweet song.

Enjoy! I'll shut up so you can read!

It took them a while to board the train. A storm was holding up the loading of the cargo and luggage. Edward didn't mind though. He hated having to go report to the Colonel. He was so snarky and smug. Not to mention he had some sort of complex.

"Brother, you're sighing again." Edward looked up from the window he'd been staring out of. His brother was looking at him with what he could guess was frustrated concern.

"Sorry. These kinds of days just get to me, you know?" He mumbled. Alphonse touched the window gently, and they watched rain stream down the glass. Lightning illuminated their faces briefly followed by a loud clap of lightning.

A small child sitting behind Edward starting crying to himself. Alphonse felt sorry for the child. His mother had gone some time earlier to check and make sure their bags weren't getting too wet. The woman was kind, and had struck up a conversation with the Elric brothers despite their strange appearances. In fact it didn't seem to bother her at all.

"Don't worry, it's just thunder. It can't hurt you." Alphonse told the boy, trying to console him. Instead, he just turned away, tears falling harder than ever. He gave a small choking sob, and wedged himself tightly into the corner of the train seat.

"He's right you know." Edward piped, wanting to help. "Thunder is just a result of two clouds bumping up against one another which causes lightning. And then-" KA-SHA! The boy cried out, and held his trembling body. The brothers looked helplessly at one another.

"_Little child, be not afraid_

_The rain pounds harshly against the glass_

_Like an unwanted stranger, there is no danger_

_I am here tonight_

_Little child, be not afraid_

_Though thunder explodes and lightning flash_

_Illuminates your tear-stained face_

_I am here tonight"_

Edward looked over to see a girl around his age singing a soft lullaby, kneel in front of the boy. She held her hand to his face, singing the soothing words to him with practiced ease. Edward watched and listened with great interest as she sang the chorus.

"_And someday you'll know_

_That nature is so_

_The same rain that draws near me_

_Falls on river and land_

_On forests and sand_

_Makes the beautiful world you see_

_In the morning"_

Edward's throat clenched a bit. The girl had a soft and kind face as she sang. He couldn't help but give a little smile. His little hands worked at wiping away his tears.

"_Little child, be not afraid_

_Though storm clouds mask your beautiful moon_

_And it's candlelight beams, still keep pleasant dreams_

_I am here tonight."_

Everyone in the car was silent as she finished the calming little song. The young boy didn't even flinch when lightning struck the ground once again, sending forth another blast of thunder.

"It's like when mom would sing to us on stormy nights." Alphonse said quietly. Edward nodded.

"Oh Randy, I'm so sorry I took so long I know you must've been frightened by the storm." The woman was soaked, and looked ready to cry. "I feel awful, are you alright?" She asked. The girl edged away so the mother could get to her child.

"I'm okay momma. That nice girl sang me a song." He smiled with red rimmed eyes. The mother looked up as though seeing the young girl for the first time.

"Oh my, did she now?" She stood up, and began ringing out her long hair. "I can't thank you enough. He's really quite scared of storms."

"Oh it's fine!" The girl held her hands up modestly. "I couldn't very well leave him to cry when I could easily comfort him, you know?" She smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

"Really, I appreciate it. You're such a nice young woman. Please, can I give you something…?" The mother started to reach for her bag.

"No, no! I couldn't! Please, don't worry about it." Her face turned a darker shade of red. "I'm just glad I could be of some comfort to him, really." She stepped back towards her seat. The mother peeked around her, seeing the empty seat.

"Oh my! Are you all alone?" She asked. The girl glanced backward at her bag.

"Well, yes but I'm meeting someone in East City."

"Oh my, please won't you let us keep you company until then?" The mother persisted. The girl seemed unable to say 'no'.

"Well, so long as you don't mind…" She began reaching for the bag.

"Of course not! Now come and sit, the conductor said the train will be leaving any minute now!" Sure enough, just as she sat down the train rumbled to life. The little boy laughed, and seemed to have no fear of the storm now that his mother was holding him.

"You have a very nice singing voice." Alphonse said a bit nervously. The girl looked back at him, seeming a little alarmed at his appearance. She shook it off, and smiled.

"Thank you, I'm glad you think so." She giggled. "What's your name?" She asked, turning her body around she could see the brothers better.

"I'm Alphonse Elric, and this is my older brother, Edward." He pointed.

"That's Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, so you know." Edward grinned cheekily.

"Older brother?" She said in a confused way.

"Hey! That supposed to mean something?!" He growled. Al grabbed his brother's shoulders.

"Brother, please calm down. So, uh, what's you're name?" He asked quickly. The girl smoothed out her short little ponytail.

"My name's Ashley. You said you're the Fullmetal Alchemist right? I take it you're going to East City to report?" Edward groaned at the reminder.

"Unfortunately." He grimaced. Just as he'd started to forget it, the Colonel bastard's smug face re-appeared in his mind. With an agitated grunt, he scooted closer to the window and smacked his forehead to the window.

Ashley seemed unsure of what she did, and how to fix it, so Alphonse started up some small talk, which Randy and his mother joined in on. After a bit of sulking, the Fullmetal decided to pipe in as well.

"I'm telling you, trains are a lot faster than you'd think." The blonde boy insisted.

"I believe you about that, but what I can't believe is that you were running after a train, and actually managed to board it." Ashley laughed.

"How _did_ you do it?" Randy asked curiously. Edward started to sweat.

"Oh, well, I uh, you see…" He scrambled for something to answer the boy with.

"I bet I know!" The mother chirped. "The train hadn't really started going, and you took a flying leap off of the loading platform, and your brother there caught you!" Edward swore inwardly.

"It's true isn't it!" Ashley gasped. "That's hilarious! You didn't actually run after it did you? It's just like she said, isn't it?" The trio leaned forward, awaiting his answer. He looked to his younger brother for help. Alphonse hurriedly became fascinated with a speck of rust on his armor.

With a big sigh, Edward mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Ashley cupped an ear with her hand.

"What was that?" She asked.

"I said, yeah, that's true." He kicked his legs up onto the seat, and shoved his arms over his chest defensively. They all laughed as the train rumbled to a stop. Ashley looked urgently out the window.

"Oh no, I better get going!" She yelped, snatching up her bag. The others gave her a startled look.

"What, why?" The mother asked.

"Yeah, what's the rush?" Edward asked curiously.

"I have somewhere to be." She slung the bag over her head, and rushed for the door. "I had a wonderful time, it was great to meet you! Bye now!"

No one said anything for a moment after Ashley's abrupt departure. The mother stood up, and put her purse over her shoulder. Randy grabbed his mother's hand, and let her lead them out.

"I suppose we ought to go too. We had a lovely time, but we need to find Daddy now, don't we Randy? Bye-bye boys!" Randy waved the entire way. Alphonse and Edward waved silently.

"Shouldn't we go too? I mean, the Colonel did say to report to him immediately when we arrived, right?" Alphonse urged his brother.

"All the more reason to stay on." Edward groaned. "Oh well, let's go." He said in a forced way. Alphonse hurried after his brother, carrying their suitcase.


	2. Chapter 2

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Author's Notes:

Here's the second chapter! I wrote this a while back, but I was a bit discouraged with my writing so I decided to hold of on submitting it. Never fear! The third chapter is already written, but I think I want a few reviews first, so I can see if I'm heading in the right direction with this ;

Anyways, enjoy ;)

(Also, if you like the show Scrubs, I've just gotten through writing a fanfiction, so check it out. It promises lots of puppy-induced sweetness!)

"Come in." Roy Mustang stopped tossing pencil at the ceiling, and sat up into a more official and demanding position. He was pretty sure it was Fullmetal who was dawdling behind the big oak doors that lead into his office. He knew the short blonde was itching for an argument, so he had to seem as intimidating as possible.

Edward frowned, and pushed the door open. Roy smirked at the unpleasant grimace Edward was sporting. He stomped up to the desk, and flopped huffily into a couch.

"Ah, Fullmetal, good of you to finally show up." Roy twisted his chair a bit.

"You didn't tell me a time, only to be here today." Edward sniffed.

"Well, if I'd told you to be here bright and early, I might as well have just told you to be here as late as possible. Truth be told, I'm surprised you showed up."

"And why's that, Colonel bastard?" Ed folded up his arms and legs. "You think I'm scared of you or something?"

"Well what other explanation could there be? You always show up later than you're told. I can only assume you're taking all that extra time to work up the courage to face me Fullmetal. After all, you do _look up to me_."

"WHAT'S _THAT_ SUPPOSED TO MEAN YOU SMUG BASTARD?!" Edward was on his feet, steaming and ready for a fight. Roy chuckled to himself in a patronizing way, as though Edward was nothing more than a child who was getting a bit riled up.

"Now, now Edward, just calm down." He waved his hand dismissively. "I didn't call you here for a fight." Edward settled grumpily into the couch cushions.

"Yeah, you just want to piss me off as much as you possibly can before I report to you and leave." He snarled. Roy frowned.

"I have a job for you to do." Roy was all seriousness now. He adjusted his famous glove. It made him feel a bit better to know that he could fry Edward if the fancy took him. That's what motivated him to continue his briefing. "Lately it seems as though somebody is making some small time chimeras. They aren't anything too special, but they are becoming a nuisance. Several reports have come in of civilians and soldiers being injured by these creatures. I want you and Alphonse to figure out who's making them, and put a stop to it. We don't think there's any connection to the Tucker case." Both State Alchemist shared an unpleasant look. It was a tender subject for them both.

"So just find out who's doing it, and dispose of the chimeras." He finished. Edward stood back up.

"You want us to kill them?" He asked darkly. "I don't like this." Roy gave him a frustrated look.

"You know as well as I those creatures are in so much pain that they're better off dead. We tried to fix a few of the chimeras we managed to capture, but it ended up prolonging their suffering." Roy interlaced his fingers. "As unpleasant as it is, we need you to do this."

"And you expect Alphonse and I to do this alone?" Edward knew it wouldn't be that hard to do, but he still felt as though it was a timely job. After all, he had to get back to searching for the Philosophers' Stone. He couldn't waste time in this dust bucket chasing around disfigured animals. His thoughts were interrupted by a firm knock at the door.

"Yes?" Roy called. The door creaked open, and Hawkeye stuck her head in.

"Colonel." She said, obviously a cue of some sort. Roy nodded.

"Right, send her in." The Flame Alchemist got to his feet once again, and stepped around his desk. "You see Fullmetal, we have a young and promising recruit we're sending with you. We had quite an impressive crop of State Alchemists this year. She's around your age, and fairly new at the job but let me tell you, she's quite fierce. Come on in!" The door reopened. Edward's jaw dropped at the sight of the girl with the short ponytail he'd seen on the train.

Roy stepped past Edward, and gave a matching salute to the girl.

"It's an honor to finally meet you in person, sir." She said in the same tone all soldiers used for their superiors.

"And it's a pleasure to meet you as well. Especially after talking with you over the phone so often." Ashley laughed informally.

"Well, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes was always insisting that I accompany him when he used the phone to brag about his family. He said you wouldn't hang up if he put me on the phone." Roy shook his head.

"I wouldn't hang up if he'd just shut up once in a while." Roy looked over to Edward, who was still in shock at the girl he'd seen no less than an hour ago, now in the standard female military uniform, with a silver chain dangling from her pocket. "Oh yes, let me introduce you. Ashley, this is Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." Ashley extended her hand, which Edward numbly took.

"We've already met." She said, suppressing her giggles. "Though, I didn't tell him I was with the military." Roy laughed, finally understanding Edwards robotic expression.

"I see. Well then, Edward, this is your partner Ashley. She's also known as the Demon Eyes Alchemist." Edward furrowed his eyebrows.

"'Demon Eyes'? Why do they call you that?" As far as he could tell, she had normal green eyes, despite his view of her right eye being slightly obstructed from the brown bangs that she was constantly flicking aside.

"No reason." She said with a coy grin. "If you really wanna know, you'll just have to hope this little job gets serious enough that I'll have to show you." Something about her hungry tone made him a bit scared. He dropped her hand, and leaned on his leg.

"Please, I don't even need you there to tell you the truth. Alphonse and I can handle it." He said breezily. Ashley bristled.

"Weren't you just complaining about wanting someone else to help you out?" Roy said infuriately. "But if you don't want her help, I've got better things for Ashley to be doing anyways. I just thought I'd send her along as a favor. Since you can 'handle it' though…"

" Oh fine! I never said I wouldn't accept her help!" He grumbled.

"Excellent! I look forward to it." Ashley smiled sweetly. Roy put his hand on her shoulder, which made Edward feel like he was being ganged up on. He was at the point of banning anything that was navy blue.

"Great, now Edward I want you to keep an eye on Ashley. I wasn't kidding when I said she was new. She's only been in Central a few weeks. She hasn't even had many serious jobs yet. That's why you have the room next to hers." When Edward didn't complain, Roy continued. "Right, now then I have more important thing to be doing than griping at you, so get going. Start snooping around for clues of who's making these chimera's. I want this case closed before the week's up." With a quick salute from Ashley, they left.

"Bastard." Edward groused. "Who does he think he is?"

"I imagine he thinks he's a Colonel, and your superior." Ashley snorted. Edward huffed.

"You were a lot nicer on the train." He snarked.

"You're a lot shorter than I thought you'd be!" She shot back.

Havoc, Breda, and Fuery just so happened to be strolling down the hallway on their way back from their break when they spotted both State Alchemists hitting, biting and pushing each other. Ashley grunted when she made contact with the wall, and threw a well aimed punch at Edward's face. He blocked it with his metal hand, making her wince. She threw weight at him with her shoulder, taking them both down. She wrapped her hands around his throat, while he attempted to shove her off with a boot in her stomach.

"Hey! What's all this about?!" Breda yelled. They all ran, trying to disentangle the feuding alchemists, who had really only succeeded to make rather large bruises on one another. Havoc, Fuery and Breda had to team up to pull the infuriated female off of her 'comrade'.

Once Edward was free and had caught his breath, he threw himself back at Ashley, who was trying to claw at him the best she could. Breda caught him under the arms, and was shouting as loudly as Havoc and Fuery, trying to get them stop fighting. They weren't even sure what the fight was about, but they'd all witnessed a full blown alchemical fight, and they weren't ready to clean up that kind of mess.

"Come on, what ever this is about I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding!!" Fuery bawled, his arms squeezing around Ashley's waist.

"Dammit! Can't you give it a rest?!" Havoc huffed when one of Ashley's elbows rammed between his ribs.

BANG! BANG! The struggling group froze at the sound of the bullets that had just whizzed past their heads.

"You all have work to do. Get to it." Hawkeye said calmly before entering the office. Havoc, Fuery and Breda dropped their burdens and quickly followed.

Edward and Ashley sat staring at one another, a bit bloodied and bruised, but more or less feeling better than they had prior to the scuffle.

"Well," Ashley said, feeling a bit dizzy and out of breath.

"Maybe we ought to go get cleaned up?" Edward suggested, pushing himself up. He offered his hand. She bit her lip, but placed her own hand into his. She could feel the cool metal through his glove. She smiled a bit, and let him pull her to her feet as well.

"Yeah, let's go." She agreed.

"Brother! Brother what's going on, I just heard a bunch of banging and yelling. Did something happen? Is that Ashley? I didn't know you were a State Alchemist! Wait, why are you guys so beaten up? Hello? Why won't you answer me?"

**What do you want to see next? All you have to do is give me a little review 3**


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